"It's like the people
behind the films are telling us
that they have finished clearing the decks, have established Daniel Craig
as the new guy, and the next
film will be an actual, old-fashioned James Bond film."

Four years later (four years - really?), I was
proved right. SKYFALL is a traditional James Bond film, with nearly
everything you would expect to find in one. Pre-credit chase?
Check. Theme song that sounds like it could only be for a
James Bond film? Check.(Nice job, Adele!) Wacky
villain? Check. Q
handing out gadgets to Bond? Cheeky quips from 007
himself? Several beautiful women? The "James
Bond Theme" playing on the soundtrack at random action-filled moments?
Check and double check! It's all been done before, but not so fully and proudly in the
Daniel Craig era. Although I enjoyed the first two films (CASINO ROYALE
much more than QUANTUM OF SOLACE) and have already formed the opinion
that Craig makes an excellent James Bond despite his non-Bond looks, I
still felt that the series needed to get back to basics, It has with
SKYFALL, which, although it doesn't have the brute intensity of CASINO
ROYALE, may still be my favorite film of the three.

Now the problem is, where do we go from here?
Craig took over the role in 2006, and here we are eight years
later, and he's only done three Bond films. Look at clips from CASINO
ROYALE and you can already see how much Craig has aged since then,
though not yet in a Roger Moore - A VIEW TO A KILL - "Please stop
pestering that sweet old man" way. We've gone from the
rebooted Bond on his first big mission to a Bond whom is now being
warned that espionage is a game for the young. Just when Craig
finally gets to be in a genuine James Bond movie, I begin to suspect
they will be looking for another one soon. Oh, well - the series
will survive. - JB

When the Bond films returned in 1995 with Goldeneye
after
a 5-year hiatus, Judith Dench was cast as M, replacing Robert Brown.
It proved to be a
brilliant move. The head of MI6 was now a woman, and one with
little patience for Bond's sexism (she calls Bond a "sexist, misogynist
dinosaur" in Goldeneye). When the Bond series rebooted with
2006's Casino Royale, the producers kept Dench on, who would continue the role of M in Quantum of Solace and Skyfall before giving way to the new M, played by Ralph Fiennes.

Few Bond actors have had the career to
match Dame Judith's. She made her name on stage with the The
National Theater and The Royal
Shakespeare Company, starred in the popular television series A Fine
Romance
and As Time Goes By, won multiple BAFTA awards, received a Best
Supporting
Actress Oscar for her work in Shakespeare in Love (1998)
and appeared in many notable non-Bond films including Chocolat
(2000), Pride and Prejudice (2005), Pirates of the Caribbean: On
Stranger Tides, My Week With Marilyn and The Best Exotic Marigold
Hotel (all 2011). She also provided the voice for Mrs. Calloway
in the animated Disney feature Home on the Range (2004).

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